If you are a garage door repair business or a consumer looking for a garage door repair company in or around Santa Cruz, then you need to know who Aptos Best Garage Door Repair company is. Aptos Best Garage Door Repair is a new Google Business Profile (GBP) listing. I say this is a new …

Since 2021, the folks at BrightLocal have been publishing their data on online reviews. This year, there is a new section on fake reviews. The data strongly suggests that not only are consumers wary of fake reviews, but they also want to see penalties for businesses that engage in them. Since I began studying and …

There is chatter online that Google performed a sweep and removed Google Business Profile (GBP) reviews last week. The first post was posted on January, 19th, 2026. At first, people did not see anything out of the ordinary, but then more people began to see their reviews being removed. New posts mentioned that they, too, …

Since December 2023, I have been battling Pestway’s lead-generation map spam in and around Detroit, Michigan. I have identified 166 Google Business Profiles (GBPs) linked to Pestway. Google has suspended and removed 139 GBPs. 18 GBPs have been marked as permanently closed. Somebody has been reopening a few of them this past week. There are …

I recieved an anonymous tip to investigate Circulo de Amigos Child Care Center’s Google reviews. The first thing I noticed is that the name violates Google’s TOS for naming guidelines. They listed the name as: Circulo de Amigos Child Care Center(Montessori inspired, Multicultural Nature Based learning center). This violates the TOS. I discovered several people …

For this project, I looked at 5,734 Google Business Profiles (GBPs) across 35 categories. 31 categories are in the home service industries. The other four categories are known for spam and abuse. 58 GBPs were suspended before I could map out their GBPs. I looked at GBPs in and around Toronto, Ontario. Some of the …

Why did Ashley, aka Rainy Day, ask people to post reviews for Big O Tire in Kearney, NE? Ashley’s FB request generated 11 reviews. Six of the 11 reviews mentioned her and somebody named Ben. While I am unable to see the post on her Facebook page, I found another post mentioning that her name …

Reveler’s Hour has gone viral after Codepink protesters heckled Trump’s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The video clip has gone viral on social media and has been picked up by news outlets. Not all of the reviews are negative. Time will tell how long it will take Google to lock down and monitor the profile. Will …

For the last few weeks, I have been tracking a new lead-generation spam network. Spammers have identified a way to make and verify Google Business Profiles (GBPs) for locksmiths. The Locksmith category is known for spam and abuse. Google has locked down the ability for locksmith GBPs to get created or reinstated at least twice …

I was asked to investigate the glowing 5-star Google reviews for Eagle Restoration in Zionsville, IN. As of Wednesday, December 10th, 2025, Eagle Restoration has a 4.9 average rating based on 65 reviews. The question is how many of those reviews are legitimate? As it turns out, several of those reviews appeared to have been …